The Guide has gotten a little makeover - a new look for a new year. We've changed
our formatting and are now featuring artwork from fab local artist Ursula Xanthe
Young. Of course, despite the changes, we're still intent on bringing you the best
of SF every week.

For Middlebrook, disturbed sites reveal human disruptions of nature, whether they be construction sites, clear-cut forests, plowed fields, or military targets, and we are reminded of man's uncompromising footprint on the Earth through the artist's drawings, sculptures and installation... More

Mark Matos & His Grand Illusions: psychedelic/country/folk A drifter, a guitar lugger, a searcher, an insatiable lout with an asphalt throat and a golden heart, mark matos has spent the last decade negotiating the dark, dust bunnied corners and bright morning wake up wonders of this fractured and fragile and shifted new america.
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This night is pay what you can. The play follows an out-of-work actor who is hired by a reclusive, theater-obsessed ex-dancer to privately act out a play she has written. The truth and illusion become almost inseparably entangled in this real life game of cat and mouse. The suspense builds layer upon layer as this taut psychological thriller gathers speed at an alarming rate towards a gripping climax. More

SF Station & Bad Kitty Productions Present My Bloody Valentine. A perfect one stop shop for all your Valentine needs. Grab a cocktail and shake what your mama gave you while shopping and supporting local designers at one of the city's favorite venues. Happy Hour prices and free admission until 9pm.
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Back by more than popular demand Ursula 1000 will be performing at supperclub as his only west coast appearance on his way to Australia to tour with the Beastie Boys, Jurassic 5, Timo Maas and many more top artists for the Good Vibrations Tour.
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Music lovers, b-boys, b-girls, graffiti artists, DJs and urban fashionistas unite to celebrate our crush on Hip-Hop. The Freshest Cuts coming from a tribesman on a quest to change the face of San Francisco Hip-Hop!More

This traditional Super Bowl Sunday race finishes in plenty of time for you to hit the couch and TV. Runners World names this the most scenic in the country. Both point to point courses start on JFK at Stow Lake Drive and finish on MLK at the Great Highway...
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The undisputed masters of the ancient art of taiko drumming, this revered ensemble is a global phenomenon, creating exhilarating soundscapes that cast a spell on sold-out audiences wherever Kodo appears. Performing in a centuries-old tradition of group drumming that utilizes handmade instruments of various sizes and timbres - including the thunderous "o-daiko", a 900 pound decorated drum carved from the trunk of a single tree...
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TIE has quickly become an exemplary festival celebrating contemporary and historical avant-garde cinema. Taking as its mission "the preservation of the fundamental qualities of cinema and film exhibition"...
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An exhibit at the University of California, Berkeley, of 24 paintings and 23 drawings from the provocative Abu Ghraib collection by Colombian artist Fernando Botero that depict the torture of Iraqi prisoners at the infamous Iraq prison. Botero is considered Latin America's best known living artist and is among the best known artists in the world today.
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Legendary writer Norman Mailer published his first short story at age eighteen while he was a student at Harvard; "I knew there was only one thing I wanted to be and that was a writer," he once remarked...
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If
Open since Fall 2006, Weird Fish has already developed a local following in the Mission. Serving brunch as well as dinner, owners Timothy Holt and Peter Hood have hit on a winning formula with this quirky neighborhood eatery. The menu stays firmly in the vegan-pescatarian range, and emphasizes local produce and responsibly-harvested seafood. Given that many restaurants charge hefty premiums for sustainable dining, Weird Fish's moderate prices ($3-12 for starters and $6-12 for entrées) are a welcome attraction.

Even in extreme circumstances, such as the last performance when two of three band members had the flu, San Francisco's Chow Nasty can hold an audience captive with its dirty-Chicago-blues-meets-Santa-Barbara-beach-party mojo. The Bay Area trio just released its debut EP Ungawa, and an LP produced by Stones Throw Records founder Peanut Butter Wolf is due out in April.

One of the queens of R&B returned to the stage on a cold night in San Francisco and made us all sweat. Her sultry voice filled the club with lyrics that made everyone sing and dance along. She performed hits from her last 3 albums as well as some upcoming releases that showed her prolific ability to create beauty with words.

Writer-director Joe Carnahan may owe a debt of inspiration to Quentin Tarantino and, to a lesser extent, British knockoff Guy Ritchie, but give him his due: he has a flair for stylized violence and there are more than a few scenes in his latest, Smokin' Aces, that achieve a sort of manic brilliance.

After sitting on the shelf for nine months while Sony downsized its 2006 marketing campaign, Catch and Release has finally landed in theaters, and perhaps the second biggest surprise about the movie, long rumored to be an irredeemable mess, is that it's merely mediocre. But the movie's biggest surprise, in more ways than one, is Kevin Smith, whose nuanced performance is far more accomplished than one might expect. Apparently Smith, best known for playing the amiably goofy but dramatically one-note Silent Bob in his own films, has real chops. Who knew?